Only time will fade (the scent of orange blossoms)
by xxVictorious
Summary: Anya loses her nana, two years after being reunited. Nana of course, wouldn't have left her if she were alone. She lived to see her family grow again, which is all she could have wanted. The last gift she gives Anya is the same as the last gift she gave young Anastasia. Life is funny, that way. Featuring: Very sad Anya, Dima being a good dad, and Anya accepting the future.


**Yikes this one has been brewing for a while so I had to get it out there. Not my usual fluff, but it had to happen.**

**It should be notice that this offsets the historical timeline, as the real Maria died in 1928, but this takes place around 1930/1931.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but little maria and little alexei. **

"Nana..nana please don't go..Nana!" Anya screamed, holding the hand of her ailing grandmother as if her life depended on it. "Please, Nana, we need more time.."

"Anastasia." Maria practically whispered. "The last two years have been the best of my life." It was not whispering more than the fact that Maria could not lift her head or speak any louder. "You have made me happier than I had ever been, _Anya_." Anya. She had called her that maybe three other times, and it still shocked Anya every time.

"But we could have so much time, please.. Maria loves you, and Alexei-" Poor Alexei, born only two weeks prior, would never know the woman who had been Anya's source of hope for so long.

"And I have been so lucky to see you become a mother better than even your own. Our family will be safe forever now, Anastasia. The Romanovs live on, in you, and the children you have." Maria weakly squeezed her hand in return. "It's okay for me to go now.. _You are not alone. _Dmitry, Lily.. your wonderful little ones.."

"But you were my family first! The only thing I knew was someone was in Paris waiting for me, Nana, that's all I had for ten years.." She was crying now, tears dripping into her maroon jacket. The same jacket she wore when her Nana embraced her for the first time.

"and these have been wonderful years.." She assured. "But I'm going to be with the rest of our family now. Your grandfather- oh he'd be so proud of you. And your father..he loved you so very much. Your sisters, and our Alexei. How jealous the girls must be that you named a child after him." Maria struggled to keep her eyes open. "I'm so glad you've come to Paris so we could be together.." She gasped heavily. "The music box.. give it to Maria, for me. Lily knows where it is. Sing to her, tell her of her grandmother from paris, who loved her very much."

"No, Nana, you're going to be able to sing with her, and give it to her and we love you so much please-"

"You've always been my favorite," Maria got out weakly, patting Anya's hand just slightly. "I love you, Anastasia." Her eyes slipped shut, and her grip on Anya's hand loosened.

Anya screamed. A scream paralleling that night in the cellar. "NANA!" She sobbed, gripping her hand tightly. "Nana please…Nana wake up.." Just like that she was seventeen again, watching bullets and bayonets pierce her sisters, watching her little brother bleed helplessly on the ground.

_Why must I watch everyone I love die,_ she wondered to herself. Nearly two weeks ago she panicked that her son would die before she held him. She had nightmares every day of Dmitry, bleeding to death in their bed. Of Maria not waking up.

Never again would she feel her embrace.

Never again would she see her smile at her.

Never again would she smell the orange blossom perfume.

"Nana..Nana.._Lily!" _Anya sobbed out, her face hiding in the sheet beside the body of her last living relative. No. No longer living. She was alone.

Lily burst through the door, a handkerchief at her eyes. She decided to forgo the makeup that morning- the Dowager's health had declined for a week now- there was no doubt that this end was inevitable. "Anya.."

Anya met her halfway, crashing into the woman who had grown to be like family as well. "She's gone, Lily. She's gone." Anya sobbed into her shoulder, Lily rubbing comforting circles over her shoulders. "why must I outlive everyone I love?"

The physical pain she felt was nothing like this emotional pain. "Shh, Anya." Lily whimpered, clearly choked up herself. "It's..it's okay. You have me and you have vlad. We're still here.. and M-Maria." The name caught her off guard, but she pushed through. "Alexei..and of course you have-"

"Dmitry." Anya finished, now looking past Lily's shoulder. There he stood, Vlad at his side. Maria was on Vlad's hip, sucking on her thumb innocently. Eyes like her own- like her fathers and her Nana's too- stared back at her from the little girl, who smiled at seeing her mother. She didn't know the pain she was in, only that she was her mother. Lily let go of Anya, taking a few steps closer to the bed and the dowager. She sat in the place Anya had been, when she lost her composure as well. Anya never heard Lily sob before.

Anya slammed into Dmitry, hiding her tears against his shirt. "I've got you." He promised, wrapping an arm around her thin shoulders. "We're not going anywhere."

Maria reached for her mother, little arms desperately grabbing at her coat. Anya looked up and wordlessly took her, holding her with one arm. "Mama?" she asked, tilting her little head. Freckles dotted her nose, identical to her mother, blurred by the scrunching she was doing. "Mama." She affirmed, wrapping an arm around Anya's neck as she laid her head on her shoulder.

"Mama's here, Maria." Anya wiped her tears as she held her, clutching her tightly. "can we.." Anya nodded her head to the hallway. She couldn't be surrounded by death quite right now.

Dmitry kissed the crown of her head, leading her from the room. He glanced behind him, catching Vlad's eye. His own arms were around Lily's shoulders, giving Dmitry an affirmatory nod.

"Anya-" He started, but she shook her head to cut him off.

"No, Dmitry.. I've been crying about how I have nothing once I lost her. How I'd be alone, that I'd be the last of my family… but I'm wrong." She was swaying slightly, whether to calm herself or her daughter she didn't know. "That's not fair to you. Because, you are my family." She looked up at him with heavy tears ready to spill over. "You made me a mother, and they are my family. I'm not the last one anymore- I have them. Maria.." She held her tighter, kissing her cheek and making the little girl giggle. God, that sound was all she wanted to hear forever. "and Alexei…" She looked down at their newborn son in his arms, a head full of dark hair, eyelids with dark eyelashes covering the chocolatey eyes she loved so much. He looked up at her through sleepy eyes. "I'll feed you so soon, I promise, my love." She slid her arm under Dmitry's, taking Alexei into her left arm, Maria occupying the right. "So.. I think we're going to be okay, Dima."

"You're magnificent, Anya.." He just wrapped his arm around her, not crushing either of the two children she held. She would break later- he knew her well enough. Or maybe her nightmares would have new fuel, that would send her skyrocketing awake, heartbreaking screams leaving her in the middle of the night. But he'd be there for her then. Like he could be there for her now.

Vlad had come out, and gently tapped Anya's shoulder. "Lily.. she wanted me to make sure you got this immediately." In his hands he held her- now, Maria's- music box.

"t-tell her thank you." Anya managed, as Dmitry held the box for her. "Come here, Dima." She sat on the bench outside the bedroom, holding her children as if they would disappear without her arms around them.

He knelt on the ground in front of her, his eyes glistening with tears, too. She would be the only person he'd ever kneel for, still now.

"this is yours, Maria. Nana used to sing to me when I was little, and now she wants you to have it." Her breath caught in her throat, as she spoke to her daughter. Alexei stirred just a little, settling himself In the crook of her arm. She had to do it. "Maybe one day, you'll sing it with me, too."

**Short but oddly painful!**


End file.
